The creation of French-born, English domiciled Jose Weiss, the Weiss Glider of 1909 was the product of model flight testing over many years. This glider, that successfully carried Gordon English aloft, embodied swept-back wings, along with a smooth canoe-style, underslung body foreshadowing by many years the designs of Capt., later Prof. G.T.R. Hill in Britain and the efforts of Alexander Lippisch and the Horten Brothers in Germany. Note the turn table-mounted launching ramp topped with weather vane.

A rare photograph of Jose Weiss launching one of his glider models. A much underrated figure, Weiss was a strong advocate of the inherent stability of a birdlike crescent-shaped wing with reflexed tips and a variable camber from inner section to the wingtip.